- Can you sell on Etsy from your country? Check this first
- Choosing and changing an Etsy shop name
- What Etsy's listing rules mean for a new seller
- Pausing, closing or deleting: the Etsy options compared
- Etsy reviews, disputes and tax questions
- Etsy seller guides, grouped by stage
- My advice for new Etsy sellers
- Frequently asked questions
The quickest Etsy seller help is in Shop Manager, where Etsy puts your shop name, policies, closing options and listings. Etsy's help centre says shop names can be up to 20 characters with no spaces or punctuation, and you can change yours up to 5 times once the shop is open. My grouped guides below cover each job.
Etsy's rules are mostly sensible, but they're spread across dozens of help articles, and new sellers tend to find them only after something's gone wrong. I've gathered the ones that matter most for setting up and running a shop, straight from Etsy's own help centre and policies, and listed every Etsy guide I've written underneath. If you sell from outside the US, the country guides are the place to look next.
Can you sell on Etsy from your country? Check this first
Before you spend an evening on product photos, check that Etsy will let you open a shop where you live. Etsy's help centre says your shop must be located in a country eligible for Etsy Payments. If you don't see your country in the dropdown during shop opening, selling on Etsy isn't available there at the moment.
Eligible countries don't all work the same way. Etsy marks some countries on its eligibility list with an asterisk, and sellers in those countries receive their sales through a Payoneer Payment Account. Etsy says it only supports deposits in United States dollars into Payoneer, and sellers then withdraw to a local bank account in local currency. Countries without an asterisk, such as the United Kingdom and Canada, use a bank account directly, and Etsy says deposits to UK bank accounts are sent in GBP.
One detail trips up a lot of new sellers. Etsy says the name on your bank account must match the name or business entity you entered when you opened the shop, which is stored on the Legal and tax information page in Shop Manager. Get that right at the start and you'll avoid a stalled first deposit.
Choosing and changing an Etsy shop name
Your shop name becomes part of your web address, either etsy.com/shop/shopname or shopname.etsy.com, so it's worth thinking about. According to Etsy's help centre, shop names can be up to 20 characters, and spaces and punctuation aren't allowed. Etsy suggests capital letters to separate words instead.
Here's the limit most guides skip. Before your shop opens, you can change the name as often as you like. Once it's open, you can change it up to 5 times in Your shop settings, and after that any change needs approval from Etsy Support. When you do change it, Etsy redirects links to the old name, other sellers can't take your previous name, and an icon shows next to your shop name for 45 days to tell buyers it's changed. My advice: settle on the name before you open, not after.
What Etsy's listing rules mean for a new seller
Every listing has a cost and a lifespan, so it pays to know the basics before you upload your whole range. Etsy's help centre says there's a 0.20 US dollar fee for creating or renewing a listing, and listings expire after 4 months. A listing also renews automatically if someone buys part of its quantity, so a multi-quantity listing that sells keeps going and is charged again.
Etsy's fees policy adds a transaction fee of 6.5% of the displayed item price plus shipping and gift wrapping. On top of that, Etsy says its payment processing fee is a set rate plus a percent of the total sale price, and the rate and percent vary by country. Check the figures for your own country on Etsy's pages before you set your prices, because they're the source that counts.
New sellers should also plan for timing. Etsy's payments policy says that, for new sellers, funds are generally available for deposit 14 days after a sale, and deposits are generally credited within five business days of the deposit request.
Pausing, closing or deleting: the Etsy options compared
Sellers often close a shop when all they needed was a break. Etsy gives you several options, and they're not the same:
| Option | What Etsy says happens |
|---|---|
| Vacation mode | Your shop stays visible, but buyers can't place new orders |
| Close your shop | Your account becomes buyer-only and the shop is hidden; you can still access orders and message customers about open ones |
| Close your account | Can be reopened later, but your email, username and shop name aren't freed up for a new account |
| Delete your data | Starts once open issues are resolved and can take around two weeks; Etsy may keep some information for legal, security or compliance reasons |
If you do close a shop and want it back, Etsy says to sign in on a desktop or laptop, not a mobile browser or the Etsy Seller app, then open the link in your closure confirmation email or the shop status page in Shop Manager and select Reopen shop.
Etsy reviews, disputes and tax questions
Reviews matter to every shop, and Etsy's rules for them are clear. Buyers can leave a review after the order's estimated delivery date and have 100 days from that date. They can edit it as often as they like within that window, but once a seller responds, the buyer can't edit it, even if the response is deleted. If there's a problem with an order, Etsy asks the buyer to contact the seller first, and a case can be opened for Etsy to review if there's no resolution after 48 hours.
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Tax rules depend on where you sell and where your buyers are, so I won't tell you what to do. What I can say is what Etsy's pages state. For Canadian sellers, Etsy says Canadian tax regulation requires sellers to register for a GST/HST ID once they reach 30,000 Canadian dollars in sales. For anything to do with your own situation, check with your country's tax authority or a qualified adviser.
Etsy seller guides, grouped by stage
Here's every Etsy guide I've written, starting with setting up and running a shop.
Opening and setting up a shop
For new and existing sellers: changing your shop name, closing or deleting a shop or account, and country-by-country guides to what Etsy's pages say about selling from where you live.
- How to Change Your Etsy Shop Name (Rules and Limits Explained)
- How to Close Your Etsy Shop (and How to Reopen It Later)
- How to Delete Your Etsy Account (Close or Permanently Remove)
- Selling on Etsy From Australia
- Selling on Etsy From Canada
- Selling on Etsy From Indonesia
- Selling on Etsy From the Philippines
- Selling on Etsy From the UK
- Etsy Seller in Egypt
- Selling on Etsy From India
- Selling on Etsy in Malaysia
- Vietnam Etsy Sellers
Listings, orders and shipping
The buyer's side of a sale, including how reviews work on the website and the app, which helps you understand the feedback your shop receives.
Taxes and account guides
A start-to-finish overview of selling on Etsy, for anyone deciding whether to open a shop.
My advice for new Etsy sellers
Check that your country is eligible and that your bank details match your shop details before anything else. Choose your shop name carefully, because the change limit is real. And use vacation mode rather than closing your shop when you need a break, since it keeps your shop visible while you're away. Get those three right and you'll skip the problems I see most.
Frequently asked questions
How long can an Etsy shop name be?
Etsy's help centre says shop names can be up to 20 characters, with no spaces or punctuation. Etsy suggests capital letters to separate words.
How many times can I change my Etsy shop name?
As often as you like before the shop opens. After it opens, Etsy says you can change it up to 5 times in Your shop settings, and after that a change needs approval from Etsy Support.
What's the difference between vacation mode and closing an Etsy shop?
Etsy says vacation mode keeps your shop visible but stops new orders. Closing your shop hides it and makes your account buyer-only, though you can still access existing orders.
How long do Etsy listings last?
Etsy's help centre says listings expire after 4 months, and a listing renews automatically if someone buys part of its quantity.
Why can't I open an Etsy shop in my country?
Etsy says your shop must be in a country eligible for Etsy Payments. If your country isn't in the dropdown during shop opening, selling on Etsy isn't available there yet.
